Auntie SparkNotes: No Cat-Punching (And Other Tips For College Readiness)

Hi Auntie!
It's that lovely time of year where everyone is choosing course for next year, signing up for classes or activites over the summer, and OMG FREAKING OUT. A lot of my friends are taking SAT boot camp-type classes over the summer because apparently it really helps to boost scores. And apparently, colleges really, really care about SAT scores, and I never really thought about it until now. I'm also confused about which classes to choose in high school. Are all those AP classes even worth it? Everyone says that colleges only consider applicants with pristine GPAs. (If it helps, I'm a sophomore in high school and it's shameless how I fit the stereotype of the typical honors nerd.)

I had always thought that colleges do look at your GPA and other scores, but that your application essays, extracurricular activities, and volunteering also have a big impact on their decisions. What exactly do colleges look for? I'm not trying to make every decision in my academic life based on whether or not it looks good for college, but I do want to know which things are truly worth doing. Are all the SAT classes and AP courses worth it? Do colleges really care much about GPAs and SATs? HELP!

Whoa, whoa, whoooooa. Sparkler, please come over here, sit down on this fainting couch, have a Coke, and play a few levels of Angry Birds until your anxiety returns to near-normal levels of manageability, okay?

I mean, geez, you guys. I get so many letters like this—missives from panicked teenagers who have convinced themselves that, for the next four years of their lives, they must get the perfect grades and pick the perfect classes and engage in the perfect extracurricular activities and make absolutely no mistakes ever for the entirety of high school, or they will (AAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!) never get into college.

And you—all of you—MUST CHILLAX.

Because y'all, there are a bajillion colleges out there. And even if you don't have a perfect GPA, or the most impossibly challenging class schedule, or a history of volunteerism that would make Mahatma Gandhi turn positively chartreuse with envy, you're not going to have any trouble getting into one of them; for every single one of you, there is a school out there that wants you, more or less, just the way you are. So while it's good to work hard, set goals, and challenge yourself, you're also not going to end up flipping burgers for the rest of your life just because you took six AP classes instead of seven.

Okay? OKAY.

And as for you, letter-writer, here—in a nutshell—is what colleges care about: a) what you're capable of, b) what you've attempted, and c) what you've accomplished. And not all of these things have to be perfect, or even spectacular, to make you an appealing candidate. What matters to schools isn't just the inherent skills you demonstrate with your test scores; it's how you use those skills, how you make them work for you, and how you try to make them better.

Which is to say, yes, your numbers matter, but they don't matter more or less than everything else. Schools don't just want smart kids with high scores; they want the average-but-ambitious, the spectacularly creative, the well-rounded hard workers, and the people who aren't afraid to try and fail. Or, to put it in concrete terms? A school is much more likely to choose Candidate One—a person with a B-plus average and above-average-but-not-spectacular SAT scores, but whose resume shows challenging courses and a schedule well-stocked with athletics, extracurriculars, and/or community service—over Candidate Two, who has near-perfect SAT scores and a 4.0 GPA, but who takes a handful of idiot-level classes and spends his spare time punching cats in the face.

And in practice, what this means is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. You have to do what works for you—so that when the times comes to apply for college, the person sending that application is the best possible version of you. So challenge yourself with AP classes, but don't be afraid to drop one if it's not a subject that comes naturally to you. Study for the SATs, but don't enroll in bootcamp classes if the benefit (an extra 10 points) is outweighed by the cons (e.g. sacrificing the extracurricular activities that make you exceptional). Push yourself to be the best you can, but don't kill yourself trying to be perfect.

And of course, do not punch any cats in the face.

Got any more tips for the college-stressed Sparkler? Leave 'em in the comments! And to get advice from Auntie, email her at advice@sparknotes.com.

Related posts: Applying to Colleges? Be Sure to Protect Your Underpants.